While champagne corks could still be heard popping along the pit lane on Sunday for Nico Rosberg – the newly crowned world champion – engineers in the Woking team’s garage were packing up for their holidays.

It wasn’t quite the fitting ending to Button’s illustrious career that fans had wished, a rare suspension failure retiring the Briton from both the race and the sport.

It was a similarly quiet exit for great – and controversial – team boss Dennis.

So often a divisive figure within F1, he oversaw some of McLaren’s greatest triumphs yet was nowhere to be seen on Sunday as he had been officially placed on gardening leave, with his replacement Zak Brown at the helm in his place.

In many ways, the race in Abu Dhabi summed up McLaren’s season with Fernando Alonso battling home for a solitary point in 10th – once again a sitting duck down the long straights but able to hook up good lap times in the tighter-cornered sections of the track.

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That point meant the Spaniard finished with 54, taking 10th spot in the World Championship.

Button, in his final season in the F1 elite, recorded just 21 while McLaren finished sixth overall, a few points ahead of Toro Rosso.

For Button though there was so much more to this final hurrah than championship points, with his mum in the garage and a pre-race guard of honour from teammates.

He said: “I enjoyed today massively. My race was short but I loved everything else.

“I was really emotional before I got in the car – it was such a special atmosphere to have the whole team and all my friends and family cheer me on my way into the garage.

“I’m just glad I was wearing my sunglasses at that moment.

“I’m very content with all I’ve achieved. Now it’s done.”

It’s a career which includes a world championship in 2009 – his defining moment – and several outstanding race victories that place Button among a select group of elite drivers.

His victory from the back in rain-soaked Canada and a first-ever win in Hungary will live long in the memory.

And while the popular Button may be stepping out of the driver’s seat to be replaced by Belgian youngster Stoffel Vandoorne for 2017, he will still be around in the paddock – in between competing in triathlons.

Gone but not forgotten: Ron Dennis was the driving force behind McLaren and a controversial figure in F1 (Image: Clive Mason/Getty)

That is unlike Dennis, who will not be around next year after a series of disagreements precipitated his departure from the company.

Falling out with shareholders and long-term partners, plus on-track failures, led to Dennis being replaced by ex-racer and marketing man Brown.

The American – who worked alongside McLaren in his previous role – will be looking to settle things down over the winter and balance the books by ensuring the team have a big-name sponsor to fill the void left by Vodafone several years ago.

Brown will also demand engine suppliers and partners Honda up their game once again, in the hope of providing a car that enables Alonso and Vandoorne to challenge for podiums and, ultimately, race wins.

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Both proved beyond McLaren this year despite the best efforts of Button and, to a greater extent, Alonso – who so often outperformed the car, highlighting once again his place as one of the best drivers on the grid.

After the season finale, Alonso said: “Overall, this season has been positive – we’ve shown big progress compared to 2015.

“But we want to win the world championship and there’s still a long way to go before we can achieve that.

“Still, we have a long winter ahead of us and we’ll make a huge effort in order to arrive in Australia next year with a more competitive package.”